GTX260 SLI worth it?

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ep3w

Gawd
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Apr 4, 2008
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Right now I'm using a single GTX260 @ 710Mhz core/1200MHz memory on a 1680x1050 monitor. I can pick up a used GTX260 for a little over $100. Would I see much of a performance gain to be worth it? I mainly play BC2 and a few other games less frequently. I would have to use the sli patch to run it on a P45 board bear in mind.
 
Just sold my 2 GTX 260's and replaced it with a single GTX 470. Pretty much the same performance without all the problems of SLI. Plus DX11! You don't have the resolution to take advantage of SLI anyways. Save your money and trade up to either a 400 or 500 series card.
 
Are you getting low frames at that resolution? I might try and sell your 260 and use that plus your $100 towards a new card. Also can your psu handle two 260s? Going off of what Rogue Apprentice said, I would definitely make the jump but you would have to go for at least a 470 or 560 to make it worth it.

Just saw in the FS/FT section somebody selling a 470 for less than 200 shipped.
 
I'm using a 750w Corsair PSU so its more than enough for it. I do like the idea of the GTX470 i hadn't thought much of that, it seems a little more future proof also with dx11. I'm not getting terribly low FPS but I prefer not to have to lower any settings and feel like I could be getting a bit smoother experience. Any difference in how the 470 or 260sli would hold up if I upgraded to a 1920x1080 monitor?
 
If you're spending a little over $100 for a GTX260, implies you'd get a little over $100 for selling your 260 (that seems excessive by the way, so no guarantees).
Which means you can effectively spend a bit over $200 on a new card instead for the same result. That will buy you an HD6870. I wouldn't buy a GTX470, it's outdated, inefficient and noisy, and has been surpassed by much better cards (HD6870, HD6950 and GTX560Ti) for a similar price.
Depending on whether your 260 is a 192-core or a 216-core a $220 HD6870 will see you about 70% more performance (vs. 216) or 90% more performance (vs. 192), which is at least equal to, if not more than, what you'd get with SLI'ing another 260, without any of the SLI disadvantages, scaling, the fact you have two cards, the fact you're using 350W+ of power (vs. 150 for a 6870) and so on.
 
ep3w said:
I'm using a 750w Corsair PSU so its more than enough for it. I do like the idea of the GTX470 i hadn't thought much of that, it seems a little more future proof also with dx11. I'm not getting terribly low FPS but I prefer not to have to lower any settings and feel like I could be getting a bit smoother experience. Any difference in how the 470 or 260sli would hold up if I upgraded to a 1920x1080 monitor?
Click to expand...

Same PSU I have. No worries if you do decide to go the SLI route. However you will be disappointed at that res. I can't speak to how well comparable AMD cards are, I use Cuda so I am forced to run Nvidia, though I wouldn't run an AMD card anyways.......This is all besides the point. I started out with a 1680x1050 monitor and went to SLI BEFORE I upgraded to full 1080p monitor......big mistake. That resolution is too low to take advantage of SLI. Another plus is that any new card is going to have a lot more V-Ram. Always a plus. So when you do ad that higher resolution monitor you won't take much of a hit in FPS or the ability to turn up the eye candy. Plus the 400 series or the 500 series cards overclock like monsters. Just something else to think about. All I know is my rig runs games way smoother having gone from 260 sli to the single 470. Im very happy with no regrets. I got $75 each out of my 260s and payed less than $200 for my 470. Basically it cost me $20 bucks.
 
For $100 you can get a GTX 460 from MSI.

It's $89 new after rebate for the MSI GTX 460 (when its on sale).

But yes, if you use SLI with your GTX260s it should be more than enough at this current time for your lower 1680 resolution. I would recommend you definitely spend less than $100 on one though. for sure
 
$100 for a GTX 260 seems a little high now with the newer generation cards released. I sold mine for $80 and that was right before the GTX 5xx and HD 69xx series popped out. I would recommend selling yours and buying a single GTX 470.
 
unless you plan to get a bigger monitor i would just wait, the 400 and 500 series are really kind of underwhelming and so are ati's offerings. 28nm gpu might actually be enough of a leap ahead from 260 to spend 300 bucks on.
now if you do plan on getting a newer monitor another used 260 is a great option, i got mine for 78 bucks on ebay months ago to freshen up my rig while i wait for 6 core cpus and 28nm gpus
if you want lots of AA though best to sell your 260 and get a 470-570 something with more than 1 gig of ram will be needed
 
Skip the sli on the 260 and take everyone elses advice to go 4 or 5 series. I sold my gtx260 for $100 last month and picked up a perfect gtx 480 for $230. I couldnt be happier.
 
...or u can go triple display (surround) with the addition of that $100 card.

The 295 is a very capable card. Two 260s is comparable and gets you into the surround scene on the cheap. It's an option that's too cheap to pass up.
 
why o why would u go SLI if you can spend pretty much same money and get roughly the same performance with a single card that is NEW.

6850/460/6870/470/560/6950
 
Thanks for the advice. I got the upgrade itch and wanted to weigh my options. Looks like I'll start keepin an eye out on FS/FT for something like a GTX460 and sell my 260 while its still worth at least something.
 
HohnyF said:
why o why would u go SLI if you can spend pretty much same money and get roughly the same performance with a single card that is NEW.

6850/460/6870/470/560/6950
Click to expand...

because you can't do surround with one card. That's the only other reason I'd go sli.
 
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